A time for not talking
by scorsby
Summary: Remus closed the distance between them and softly blew the snow off Sirius's nose.


They were watching the last Quidditch match of the season and Remus felt a mittened hand slip into his mittenless one, lying on the chair next to him. Without taking his eyes off the tiny figure of James swooping about on the pitch he assessed the situation.

Who did he know who owned mittens: Sirius

Who was sitting next to him watching Quidditch: Sirius

Who would absolutely not be holding his hand right now: Sirius.

The data simply didn't add up.

Stealing a glance sideways at Sirius's face which was turned to watch the game, Remus murmured "Why are you holding my hand?"

"I'm cold."

"Oh. Okay." Remus nodded once and carried on looking at the match.

It _was_ cold, he supposed. His nose and ears were pink with it and his hands becoming frighteningly numb- the game had been on for an hour already- but he didn't dare move his hand to rub them together. He didn't want to upset Sirius, and besides, he didn't want to remove the warm, woolly mitten from his grasp.

Suddenly he felt his hand being lifted and then two mittens were holding it, across Sirius's lap.

"Umm, Pads..." Remus looked around nervously, checking no-one was looking at them. They weren't; it was a very engrossing game. "Pads, what are you doing?"

Sirius rubbed Remus's cold hands with his own.

"You're cold."

"Well," Remus laughed uncertainly, "Thank you.."

He wasn't sure how to respond to Sirius's actions. Obviously he liked the fact that the boy he had a massive crush on was currently touching him but it was more than a little unprecedented and the scenario was certainly nothing like what he'd fantasised...

"Relax." Sirius still didn't take his eyes off the game. "What are you scared of?"

What was he scared of? Remus shook his head but said nothing. If Sirius wanted to pretend that nothing bizarre was occurring that was quite alright with him. He tried to relax and just enjoy the sensation. Besides, his hand _was_ warmer...

"Give me your other hand."

Remus looked around, nervously, again. "But Sirius... people will _see_..."

"So."

Remus clicked his tongue. So this was some sort of challenge? Well fine, if Sirius didn't care what people thought then he wouldn't either. And they _were_ in the back row... He passed across his other hand which was immediately taken between the mittens.

He sat for a while watching the game, now completely oblivious to what was happening on the pitch, just feeling the sensation of his hands warming up in the other boys lap, but after a while his arm stretched across himself began to ache. Cursing the body's natural inclination to begin playing up once a situation got interesting Remus shifted his weight around.

Sirius was now nearly directly in his line of sight and... yep, there was the knee touch. That subtle but important bit of contact.

Remus could barely breath. He was now contorted in such a position that his head was having to twist right round to try and see the game at all.

Sirius sighed irritably.

"Why are you being so difficult." It wasn't a question and Remus didn't answer for fear of inciting Sirius's wrath.

"C'mere." Sirius let go of Remus's hands and reached around behind his back, pulling him close so that their sides were touching all the way down to the knees, forming a sort of sideways hug. He then took one hand in each of his and held them in front of their laps, rubbing them.

Remus bit his lip but didn't say anything. Sirius was so easily provoked in these moods. Remus was better than the others at dealing with them but still he needed something to take Sirius's mind off whatever was bothering him...

"Oh! Look..."

The sky around them was filling with swirling white snow. Perfect

"Look, Sirius..!"

Remus risked a look at Sirius's face. He was trying to remain expressionless but more and more snow was landing on his nose and he was starting to look comical.

"Sirius!" Remus couldn't help but smile at his friend's stubbornness. He turned his head to face Sirius's directly. They were now very close.

With a moment of insanity Remus closed the distance between them and softly blew the snow off Sirius's nose.

He pulled back in horror. Oops.

Sirius blinked once. And again. And then looked at Remus out of the corner of his eye.

"Oi!"

Remus laughed out loud at Sirius's indignant tone.

He detached his hand and rubbed it on Sirius's nose, only to have it batted off.

"Oi!"

"I was warming you up." Remus said innocently.

Sirius looked at him for a second and then laughed, pulling him into a hug.

Remus breathed out deeply in relief. Crisis averted. He allowed himself to enjoy the hug and they remained in that position for several minutes, Remus's face buried in Sirius's neck, until a loud roar from the stands announced to them that the match was over.

They separated and looked at the pitch guiltily.

James was doing back flips.

"Oh no, we missed him win the last match of the season," Remus said guiltily.

Sirius shrugged. "Oh, don't fret about it, you know he'll recount it to us back at the common room at least sixteen times."

Remus smiled, "that's true."

The stands were beginning to empty.

Remus stood up. "Shall we head back?"

Sirius didn't move. He shook his head slowly.

"I'm going to just stay here for a bit actually." He wrapped his arms round his knees, feet pulled up onto the seat, and rested his chin on them.

Remus hesitated. He was cold, he needed the loo, he wanted the cake and drink and party that he knew would be back at the common room.

And he sat back down besides the boy he loved and let him not talk about his problems until it was too dark to see.


End file.
